Layover (5 page)

“I know. That’s why I went ahead and did it. I didn’t want you to say no.”

“How did you get my account information?”

“When I went back into the hotel to get the receipt, I copied it off of the check you gave the clerk.”

“I want to kiss you and beat you up, all at the same time.”

“That’s sounds kind of kinky,” he joked.

“Allen, I don’t know what to say.”

“Nya, just say that you will make your company the best it can be. That’s all I expect. No strings attached. I want you to be happy. I want you to have everything you ever dreamed of. And give that ghetto ass receptionist a raise and some etiquette lessons!”

“Now wait a minute. We might have to fight if you talk about my assistant again,” I teased.

“OK, I’ll get off of her for now. Look, handle your business. We’ll talk soon. Love ya.”

“Love you,” I told him.

I was speechless. I had no idea what I was going to do now.

I went to my office and wrote out checks for the bills on my desk. Then, I went to my online banking and transferred the fifty-thousand to my business savings account. Next, I clicked on apply for a loan on-line. I applied for fifty-thousand dollars collateralized by my fifty-thousand in savings. I figured my personal banker would get back to me by the end of the business day. I decided that I would only use Allen’s money if absolutely necessary. With the interest earned on the money in the savings, I could offset the interest on the loan. Additionally, the borrowed money could be used to generate more income and pay off the loan. That way, I could return Allen’s money, with interest, in a short time. Even though he said he didn’t want the money paid back, I already knew I wanted to anyway. I wanted him to be proud of me. I wanted him to think of me as a smart business woman and hold me in high regard. I called the newspaper and ran an employment ad for licensed agents and for an office assistant. I was going to need more help if I was going to be an effective broker. I wanted Dee Dee to take on some additional responsibilities and with that, she would need some help. The new assistant would report directly to Dee Dee. Additionally, if Dee Dee were to take the licensing exam, I might put her in charge of the agents as well. I know she’s ghetto, but she has a lot of potential and I want her to know that I believe in her. I know what it’s like to be a woman in this business and have the chips stacked against you.  I want to help her in any way I can.

I was excited and energized in new ways. I felt like there was nothing I couldn’t do. I decided to try to get another appointment with the land developers in California. I called and tried to get through to the president, who I was supposed to meet with. His secretary said that he was busy and was not taking calls. When I tried to explain my situation and apologize for canceling yesterday, she seemed less than sympathetic. I got the feeling that he was not terribly busy and that he just didn’t want to talk to me. I can almost understand since he went out on a limb for me by selling the idea of me to his partners and paying for me to fly there. Still, I wasn’t satisfied. If the answer was going to be no, then I needed it to be said to my face. I decided that I was going to do something I would have never done before. I called the airlines and scheduled the next non-stop flight to Los Angeles. Since they were two hours behind us, I knew I could make it there before the business day was over. I left Dee Dee a note and headed for the airport. I didn’t even bother to pack; I didn’t even bother to tell Kenny.

I got to the airport about thirty minutes before my flight was to take off. They were already boarding. I bought a toothbrush and some toothpaste and ran to my gate. I was glad that with my frequent flier status, I was bumped up to first-class. There is nothing like a long flight in coach, even for a little person. I sat there on the plane before takeoff thinking about what I was doing. When I woke up this morning, I didn’t know how I was going to pay my bills, now I’m going to go after my dream. It was like Allen breathed new life into me. I always wanted someone who made me want to be a better person. Allen was the one. He made me want something. Maybe my success has been limited by Kenny. Maybe subconsciously I didn’t want to succeed in this business because I wanted Kenny to be right. Maybe I didn’t want to become more successful than him because I didn’t want to outgrow him. Now that I don’t give a fuck about him, I feel free to do the things I know I need to do to be the best.

Since I hadn’t gotten much rest the night before, I slept most of the flight. I didn’t know if I was dressed for the weather since it is usually warm in LA, but I was going to use that to my advantage. I would just tell them that I wanted the deal so badly, that I came just as I was. When I got to ground transportation, I took a cab to downtown LA. I gave the cabbie the address to where I was going and told him to take me there. I walked into the lobby of the twenty story building and went to the bathroom on the first floor. I brushed my teeth and proceeded to the elevator to the 12th floor, where Axis Developers was located. I got off the elevator and walked into suite 1204. I had no idea what I was walking into and I’m not sure I was ready for what was about to happen. I told the receptionist I was there to see Hasan Mohamad. She asked me my name and when I told her, her mouth dropped open. She told me to wait a moment, then she excused herself. I sat down and waited. She was gone for more than ten minutes and I began to worry because the phones were ringing. I decided I was going to answer them if she didn’t hurry back. After another five minutes, she still hadn’t returned. The phones continued to ring. From the extension in the lobby, I answered,

“Axis Developers, how may I direct your call?”

“Hasan Mohamad.”

“I’m sorry. He’s not available. May I take a message for him?”

“This is his wife. Who is this?”

“This is Nya.”

“Where is Lupe?”

“She went to the back. She hasn’t come back.”

“I’ll call back later,” she told me.

Just as I hung up, Lupe returned.

“Ms. Reilly, Mr. Mohamad cannot see you. He is in a meeting.”

“Lupe. Are you sleeping with Mr. Mohamad, because his wife just called.”

“Why did you ask me that?”

“I’ll take that as a yes, but it’s none of my business. Just let me see him and I’ll straighten things out with his wife.”

“He’s the third door on the right.”

I went to the third door on the right and opened it. A short, middle-eastern man looked startled.

“Mr. Mohamad. I just flew a few thousand miles to be here. I’m sorry about yesterday. There was nothing I could do about that. But, there is something I can do about today. I’m here. I want this deal. Oh, by the way, your wife called while Lupe was back here with you. I didn’t know what to tell her.”

 “You have a lot of nerve.”

“That’s what you need in this business. I’m not a pushover. I can hold my own. If you trust me to develop this project in Birmingham, I will handle it the same way I approached this. I want this deal and I came to get it. I didn’t come for the food, lodging, or the sites. As soon as you write me a check, I will be back on a plane out of here.”

“I’m convinced at this point, but now you have to convince my partners. Wait right here.”

I sat and waited for him to come back with his partners. I was expecting two more short, dark-haired gentlemen to return. Instead, he came in with Lupe and a cat.

“Mrs. Reilly, these are my partners - Lupe and Sigmund. Sigmund is a senior partner,” he joked.

“What do you think, Lupe,” he asked her.

“Well, she was nice enough to answer the phone will I was away from my desk and I like the nerve of her trying to intimidate me with the wife thing. She’s cool.”

“Well, Mrs. Reilly. I guess that leaves Sigmund. He doesn’t seem to have any obvious objections, so I think we will go with your company. I’ll have Lupe write you a check.”

That was too easy. I expected a big mother fucker named Bruno to come and throw me out. There was no way this guy was going to just give me a check after the crap I just pulled. I don’t really know why I came here in the first place. I guess I was just feeling so restless in Birmingham. Allen had awakened feelings inside of me that I thought were dead for years. Now I felt like just flying away like a bird. I sat and waited for Lupe to return with a check and soon she did.

“Mr. Mohamad will overnight mail the final contract to you for your signature,” she told me, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to catch the phones,” she joked.

I couldn’t believe it. When I walked out of the building, I felt like clicking my heels together. I could hardly believe this was happening. This man just wrote me a $100,000 check like it was a post-it note. I was trippin’. I guess it would have been too much to ask for a ride back to the airport. I decided to catch a cab back to the airport. I was on a standby ticket, so I was in a hurry to get to airport so I could make it back home tonight. No more layover flights for me. If I can’t get there in one shot, I’ll just stay on the ground.

It was late when I got back to Birmingham. After all I had done in this day’s work, I still managed to make it home before my absentee husband. Not that I was complaining because I wish, at times, he would never come home. I took a shower and climbed in the bed. I would check my messages and e-mail in the morning. I was way too tired to even think about that. Tomorrow was Saturday and it would afford some much needed rest for me. I slammed my head into the pillow and tried to go to sleep. As tired as I was, I couldn’t. There was something I had to do. As much as I knew I didn’t need to, I just had to. I picked up the phone and dialed *67 so my number wouldn’t show up on the caller ID. Then I dialed the number:

“Allen, it’s Nya. I’m sorry to call so late. I just needed to talk to you.”

“Like I told you this morning, you can call me anytime.”

“Allen, what’s going to happen between us?” I asked.

“Nothing that you don’t want.”

“I’m talking about in the future.”

“Like I said, nothing that you don’t want to happen. I’ve told you how I feel. The ball is in your court.”

“What are you saying? Am I supposed to leave my husband and be with you?”

“Is that what you want? ‘Cause if it is, that’s the only thing you can do. Right now, we are living in a fantasy. But soon, Lisa and the baby will be home. We won’t be talking as much. We will just be thinking about each other and it will get intense. We will start doing stupid stuff just to talk to each other and we are going to start leaving evidence. We will get paranoid and start trying to avoid each other. Ny, it’s getting deep and we have no way of digging ourselves out of this hole. If we want to be together, we need to make a move now, before we violate everyone’s trust and ruin a lot of relationships for the sake of our own.”

“What do you mean? Are you planning on leaving Lisa?”

“Nya, I wasn’t going to say anything but I may as well tell you. Lisa left me. She had me take her and the baby to her parents - to stay. She doesn’t want to be married to me anymore. I told her I wasn’t ready to let her walk out on me so she agreed to come back on Monday and see if we could work on our relationship. If there is any kind of future for you and me, I will let her ass stay right where she is! If not, I owe it to myself and to the baby to give it a shot with Lisa. So you see, I’m halfway out the door. Where are you?”

“Allen, what are you saying? If I leave Kenny, you and I can just up and get together? You would just start dating your brother’s ex-wife?”

“I would start dating and marry the lady I’m in love with. Kenny and everyone else will just have to deal with it. It’s about me this time, Ny. I’m tired of doing everything to make everyone else happy. I want some happiness of my own. So, like I said, where are you in this thing? Do you want Kenny or do you want me?”

“I want you but I can’t just leave Kenny like that. He would die if I left him to be with his brother.”

“Well. I guess you made up your mind then.”

“No, Allen. It’s not like that. I want you. I just want to go about this thing the right way.”

“Well, when you figure out what way that is, let me know. I just hope Lisa and I haven’t reconciled by then. I’ll leave the door open for you Ny, but I can’t guarantee that a strong wind won’t come and blow it closed. There are forces out there beyond our control. I gotta go. Call me tomorrow.”

“Love you,” I said pitifully.

“Love you,” he said insistently.

If ever I was able to sleep before, now I surely wasn’t. Allen had put something on my mind that I wasn’t ready for. It’s kind of like when he gave me the money. I never really expected to get it so I didn’t know what to do when I came. Now it’s the same thing with our relationship. I was in love with the fantasy. Now that he’s telling me that it can happen, I don’t know what to do. I admit, it sounds easy enough, but how do I just tell the man that I once loved that I am now in love with his brother after spending the night with him? I wanted Allen more than I wanted to wake up in the morning, but what is it that he was asking me to do?

I fell in and out of sleep all night. At one point, I heard Kenny come in. I was wearing my ‘please don’t touch me’ flannel pajamas. I couldn’t bear the thought of Kenny laying a finger on me. I only wanted Allen. If I couldn’t feel Allen inside of me, I didn’t want anyone - not even my husband. Still, something wasn’t sitting well with me after my conversation with Allen tonight. I wasn’t sure what it was but now I felt somewhat uneasy. At about 4:00 a.m., it finally occurred to me. I jumped up out of bed. I knew what was bothering me. Allen never said
why
Lisa left him. I wanted to know what would make her leave a man like Allen. They would have to drag me away from that man, kicking and screaming. What could he have done that was so bad as to make her leave him? That was the million dollar question. And, as soon as I had the opportunity, I was going to find out.